Hidden door ( Trivedi cont … )

I didn’t sleep that night. I was looking at the watch and waited until 1:30 AM. Then I got up from bed and tried to open the door. It didn’t open. The door was locked from outside.

“Damn it. How can I open the door?” I thought. I looked the whole room if I could find some other way to escape. But it was vain; I didn’t find any other way.

I locked the door from inside and slipped into sleep while thinking what that guy in room no 9 would have been thinking since I didn’t meet him.

I opened my eyes when I felt somebody had kissed my face. I was shocked to see that person in bed. It was Michele. I didn’t understand how come she was on my bed. She was supposed to be in the US. I asked her the same question. She smiled and told that she was also part of the US sleeper cell. Once I left, she had requested her boss to replace her with someone else and she came over here.

“I got your photo from the boss. That’s how I recognized you. Though you look different, I can feel your breath”, she told by coming close to me.

I didn’t know what to say. My mind became blank. I was looking for words to say something. Whatever hope that I had some whereas I was not a terrorist was breaking into pieces after seeing her.

“See, the boss still didn’t know our intimacy. He was thinking that I was just helping you in that mission. He still has a crush on me. So you have to behave properly with me in front of him”.

I just said fine as I needed time to digest whatever things happening in front of me. Everything was happening so unpredictably.

“I know you don’t remember anything, but we had plans to quit this team and settle in Singapore. We also made arrangements as you transferred 50 million to your Singapore account. But somehow because of that chip in your mind, you became crazy and lost your mind. Anyhow, now the good news is, I have few friends here, who could do anything for me. I asked them to do the arrangements for us, so it would be taken care of. And you won’t be traveling to the US; instead, we are going to Singapore. You know what? You can get operated in Singapore itself.”

I was jolted after hearing that she was planning to take me to Singapore.

I was about to say something. She didn’t listen to anything. She said to be happy and left the room. While she was leaving I observed that she had opened the door lock from the inside before she was going out. That means she didn’t come from that door.

“If she didn’t come from that door then how she could be able to come inside. There might be some other secret door here”, I thought. It was too late for me to explore that room as it has already become a day.

After few minutes, the agent knocked on the door. I opened it. He asked me to get ready to meet the boss.

I had seen Michele along with the boss. She just smiled at me and left us alone. The boss told me that he was doing arrangements for my US travel like getting a fake passport and visa etc. It would take a couple of days, until then I should not go anywhere and stay inside that building.

That whole day I didn’t do anything. I expected to notice the guy who gave that paper note to me. But I didn’t see him at all. I was roaming inside the building. There were many rooms. I tried to enter inside a random room. But they didn’t let me in. I suspected there was something going on inside.

I was thinking to find that hidden door at any cost that night. I waited until it becomes dark. The agent again left me in the room and locked the door.

I slept for few hours and then in the middle of the night started exploring the room. Finally, I figured out, there was a button embedded in the corner side of the wall, and pressing it actually opened the secret door. It was impossible for anyone to notice it as the paint on the door matches with the wall so it fools anyone.

Inside it was dark. I waited some time so that my eyes could adjust to see in the dark and I could make out the way. That path leads to somewhere. I followed the path then it took me to someone’s bedroom. I quietly entered inside. Someone in the hall was talking over the phone. I recognized that voice. That was Michele’s voice.

“Yes,  darling. Don’t worry about him. I’ll take care of him. As per our plan I told him we are going to Singapore.”

Then there was a silence. The guy on the phone asked something.

“Ya, ya. Of course, he believed me. You know about me right. Michele can do anything. It’s magic. I did all arrangements in Singapore. You are not going to see Afzal again”, she was laughing.

I understand that she was talking about me. She was planning something.  I decided not to go with her otherwise god only knows what she could do.

I waited some more time. She was watching TV. I searched in her bedroom drawer. I found a revolver and few photos. I didn’t know what I was searching for there. I saw few alphanumeric numbers written on a paper. I didn’t understand what it was.  I decided to go back. On the way to my room, I noticed another path. I followed it, and it leads to the hall of that building. After entering that hall, I recognized the room which they didn’t allow me that day morning. It was not locked. I wondered whether it was unlocked just for me to explore so I decided to go inside.

It was like a mix of computer and biology labs. I saw a bunch of computers and some papers lying on the floor. I also saw few human organs in a chemical solution. I didn’t understand what that was for. I tried to login into a computer. But it was password protected. I gave different default passwords whatever I could recall. It didn’t work, and then I remembered the alphanumeric pattern that I saw in Mechele’s bedroom. I tried to log in again with that sequence. I was able to log in. Then I saw few drawings. A human body-shaped drawing. I realized that was a model, combining the human body and few electrical circuits. I was trying to explore more. I heard a noise. Somebody was trying to come inside. I quickly logged off from that computer and went inside an almirah in that room and closed the door.

I had sensed that two guys came inside of that room. One person was scolding another one as he forgot to lock the door. They were doing something; I didn’t know what that was. I was sweating inside.

“Where is that chemical solution?” One person asked another.

“I didn’t know. You only put somewhere” the other person replied.

“Ya, I remembered now. It is in that almirah” I could feel that guy coming close to open the almirah door where I was hiding. My heartbeat was running away. I was quickly thinking about what to tell if they notice me.